Chipping Wood

[jon yocom]

I have a tree trimmer in my area that will usually chip it up for nothing. 

 

[frosty]

Used 'em once, kinda pricey, but the wife liked the flavor.  Her palate is more sensitive than mine, so I would purchase it again.

 

[steve k]

i used a bag and about blew my smoker up.  Make sure you've got good air flow.  I didn't and the thing went "poof" when I opened the door.  Evidently, some ethanol in that wood!  The meat still tasted good - pulled pork.

 

[heygreene]

I have an apple tree and was cutting up some seasoned wood into VERY thin slices... maybe 1/4" thick or so... with my miter saw.  The next thing I know, the wood flew out of my hand and hit the wall 15 feet away... I'd hit a knot in it.  I now cut larger pieces (while trying to avoid knots), then chip with my hatchet, like a lot of other folks have stated here.  I just wanted to let everyone know that... if I can save one finger, it's worth posting! 

 

[etexsmoker]

I just built a smokehouse and am working to figure out how to do it right.  I built a 4x4x8' unit, using R-panel steel for the roof.  With the ribs and all, I didn't think I needed to worry about a stack.  I was right there.  I use hickory fired by a propane burner.  I can fill a 12" cast iron skilled with chunks and it will smoke for about hour.  Works beautiful.

 

[eman]

At $2.68 a bag for chips ,i''l just buy mine.

 

[goodtobeking]

My friend learned the hard way not to store chips in an air tight container. They turn to mold and or mildew. My experience has been to stick with chunks and you get a longer controlled smoke as long as the fire box is air tight to control burning. Thats what makes it work in a big green egg.

 

[michael ark]

Thats sell prices here.Get all you can.
 

At $2.68 a bag for chips ,i''l just buy mine.

 

[domapoi]

Yes, I use them as often as I can. I love the slight but distinctive flavor that the whiskey barrel flavor to the meats.

 

[cobramo]

I would use a band saw to get the wood small enough. if u are careful not to loose a finger u can get the slivers quite small.  u can also rent a wood chipper at most rental centers depending on how much wood u have to chip.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Yeah, band saws, espececially if you can reduce the speed, are far safer than table saws and radial arm saws. Circular saws, even with close tolerances on blade slots, fences and other mechanisms, are notorious for kicking back or throwing the material when cutting small pieces. Combine that with a worn/dull or gummed up blade (from heavy cutting of resinous woods such as fir or pine), and you've got a lethal recipe for destruction.

My dad used to build cabinets, tables, chests of drawers (among other types of furniture) from laminated particle board. His stock material was waste stock from a local office furniture manufacturer. He'd pick up a trailer and/or pickup truck load, haul it home to his workshop, sort and stock the pieces according to sizes and begin building what he could out of the material he had. He did this to pass time after he retired and gave the finished products for charitiy to the needy. Some of the trim pieces and strips for supports that he cut made for a dangerous situation, as he learned the hard way...lost 2/3 of one finger, 1/2 of the next, and about 1/3 of the third finger on one hand (if I recall correctly) when his radial arm saw bound up and kicked back. It happens soo fast that you'll generally never hear, feel or see it coming...zip, and it's over. I've had a chainsaw or two try to throw a snarling chain my way a few times back when I was young and dumb...chainsaws are wicked when they get a mind of their own, but not quite as bad as circular saws, IMO.

It's not worth the risk to make your own sawdust for smoking, IMO, or even smaller cut chips. Collecting the dust from cutting operations is one thing, but cutting for the sole purpose of making dust requires special equipment to do it safely. If you cut to reasonably managable sized pieces for your saw, then break it down farther with hand tools, or just do combination cutting (use the dust for smokewood dust and the pieces to chunk or chip out).

Also, don't forget the trusty wood rasp...you can get wood dust to medium/fine size with a rasp and your risk for injury is almost null. Planers can make rather small chips, so that would be another very good option, and again, low injury risk.

Power tools have limitations and a threshold for safety, and the only way to find out for sure where the line needs to be drawn is to cross that line...and then, it's too late.

Stay safe, fellow smokers!

Eric

 

[domapoi]

I still think the safest way to make sawdust is like I do. I take my small scrap wood blocks and put them in my BlendTec blender and put the lid on and start it up. This thing will blend almost anything into whatever grade of dust you want. The polycarbonate container won't break and the heavy blades just do a heck of a job grinding all sorts of stuff. If you don't believe me, do a search on "Will it Blend" and look at all the videos of all the stuff they blend up, from iPods to iPads to lave lamps to a multitude of other things. A great way to create and blocks of wood to dust. And, no I am not a seller or have any interest in the Blendtec other then using my own personal one.

 

[stitan06]

i just cut up a whole cherry tree today i wanted to use it to smoke turkey for thanksgiving can you use green wood smoke with or does it have to be dried

 

[forluvofsmoke]

i just cut up a whole cherry tree today i wanted to use it to smoke turkey for thanksgiving can you use green wood smoke with or does it have to be dried

Green wood is a no-no. It contains a volatile substances which can be harmful to injest, and can also give an acrid, bitter flavor andaroma to your foods.

If the tree you just cut was fresh killed or still live, and you cut some to small enough pieces, say no larger than 1" thick, you may be able to get it dried/seasoned in a couple weeks if stored in a very warm, dry area, open air and single layer, of course. Maybe somewhere near a home comfort heating source, or in a bright sunlit window sill if you're in a warmer climate. A cookie sheet or similar pan for a receptacle would work fine.

Eric
 

 

[smokenjoe46]

I have used a hatchet and split the pieces into strips. Also used tree clippers to snip twigs from apple trimmings into small pieces.

 

[stitan06]

thanks for the info  i also had some dried cherry i cut also somone said on here about storing it in air tight it would mold if i used plastic buckets and drilled holes in them would that let the chips breath ? i chipped some green apple today and letting it dry i would assume that being chipped would let it dry faster ?

 

[forluvofsmoke]

thanks for the info  i also had some dried cherry i cut also somone said on here about storing it in air tight it would mold if i used plastic buckets and drilled holes in them would that let the chips breath ? i chipped some green apple today and letting it dry i would assume that being chipped would let it dry faster ?

 Yes, that's correct regarding airtight storage...needs to breathe a little. A heavy cotton or burlap bag works great, or cardboard box with holes works, too. Just keep away from precipitation (outdoors) or other sources of direct exposure to water (or chemicals, of course). Oh, don't forget that animals may want to lift their leg on it, so keep it out of their range...yeah, that would smell pretty nasty in the smoker, not to mention the taste...OK, gonna shut up about that subject, now...LOL!!!

Being chipped will allow for much faster drying than if it were just split or whole logs. It does make it more difficult to tell if it's properly seasoned when not in splits or logs, as you can't see the cracking/splitting in the wood grains. If you weighed the wood in it's container before drying (digital scale with ~2/10th oz incriment for a small batch of a couple pounds), then weighed again every 2 days or so would tell you if it's still losing moisture. How much percentage of loss to be considered seasoned? I can't answer that (will vary with species, etc), but I would say that if it weighed the same for several days after it lost some weight, that would be the threshold for the average relative humidity in your location. It probably won't get any drier at that point.

I dried some fresh-cut plum about 5 years ago, and in 1 to 1-1/2" thick chips, I left it laying in the sun for about a week in mid june with day-time highs of 80-85*, nights @ 55-60, and R/H probably in the upper 20% - lower 30% range (common for my area). In bright light I could see small very cracks in the end cut wood grain.

Eric

 

[stitan06]

thanks for the info so you think buckets with holes drilled in it would let it breath enough

 

[forluvofsmoke]

thanks for the info so you think buckets with holes drilled in it would let it breath enough

Yes, if you already have some drilled buckets, I'd use them. That would probably make for handier carrying with a bail handle than it would be to lug a box around when you're setting up to fire a smoker. The porous bags are good, as long as carrying and/or hanging for storage isn't an issue. Cardboard is good if you have some boxes laying around, they just don't abuse or rough handling very well, and become structurally weakened when alterations are made.

Heck, thesmoke wood chunks I buy are in heavy duty plastic bags with holes on the sides...just a few small holes here and there to pass air through ocassionally.

Whatever you have handy that fits the bill...

Eric
 

 

[domapoi]

What I think would work great is something you won't have to drill holes in or buy extra. This is the time of year where you should be able to find some free sand bag bags from your local fire station or where ever your community distributes them for free. Some are the burlap (or gunny sacks) others are the polyester weave type, but either way they are a very breathable material and can easily be hung off the ground away from animal looking to do a nature call. And, hanging them off the ground will actually provide more air circulation for drying. What do you think?